Legal or not??

[dudewheresmyboat]

First year waterfowler here, i've talked to a few guys that duck hunts. They've told me yes and no. In WI is it legal to shoot ducks while they are in the water???

[Barbelboy]

When asked how far I lead my ducks, I reply,

"depends on how fast they are swimming!"

Shoot away, just wait until acouple swim together so you get more than one with a single shot.

[walleye08]

im not sure if its legal but i would never shoot a sitting duck

[Quackaddict9]

I've water pounded ducks sitting on water and its legal in MN and I don't see why its illegal in Wisc.

[hanson]

When asked how far I lead my ducks, I reply,

"depends on how fast they are swimming!"

LOL! Thats a good one!

[BuckKiller]

im not sure if its legal but i would never shoot a sitting duck

me either... doesn't seem right

if you can't hit 'em flying, practice more

[PierBridge]

Unethical IMO!

[stretch]

but what if the bird is a cripple and swimming away. is shooting it on the water un-ethical. i normaly give a chance to get about 2" off of the water and then hit them hard.

[jeepguy]

Water Swatting a cripple is different than shooting sititing ducks. When shooting at a cripple, in my opinion, you are being ethical, because you are trying to avoid a crippled bird from taking off out of you reach, and possibly losing it. If ducks come land in your decoys at least get them up in the air before taking them, otherwise where's the sport in it. If all you want is duck meat and no sport, then your better off going to the store and buying duck, it will cost alot less than waterfowling does.

[ddsbyday]

It is your legal obligation to dispatch the wounded duck. You will find it is much harder to kill a duck on the water than flying. The diver ducks can be gone in a second so if it doesn,t go belly up hit again pronto.

[HugoBox]

I was out yesterday afternoon and there was lots of ice right next to where I had my blocks in the water. A mallard walked into the decoys from the ice. Even though it was as nice a greenhead as I've seen in quite some time I decided to let him have a pass. I guess I'm turning into a softie!!

[ZEEK1223]

Im a softie too. I was going to jump shoot a pair of mallards, but when I got down close enough I couldnt do it. I ended up just watching them splash around in the water. They looked so peaceful I just couldnt do it.

[Scott Stein]

go ahead and water spank em!!

[dudewheresmyboat]

Just thought i'd ask since i'm a newb at ducking. I often jump shoot on a trout stream close to home. I wait til they are in flight til I shoot. I'm getting better!! I just got back from a jump shoot, didn't look carefully and three drake mallards took off on me! Oh well it was a good way to end the season (northern zone)! Nothing better than watching those ducks flap their wings at you on the last day of the season. I can't wait til next year!!!!!

[Barbelboy]

There are several ways of looking at this. My first post was just poking a little fun at dudewheresmyboat. (Hanson got the joke) I do primarily shoot ducks on the wing. I don't think anybody can argue that a flock of ducks that decoy like they're on a string, cup their wings and you take 'em when their flaps are down is arguably one of the finest outdoor experiences there is. Have I smacked 'em on the water? Yup. I know of no law in any state that prohibits it. Will I continue to do it. Yup. Some guys will use fly fishing equipement and only dry flys for trout because anything else is unsportsman like. Doesn't mean I will.

Ducks on the water can be very difficult to kill. We've all probably chased a cripple across a lake and taken multiple shots to finish the bird off. And if you haven't, just keep hunting, IT WILL HAPPEN. ddsbyday was correct. ANY duck who's head is up after they hit the water needs a follow up shot and it is all of our legal/ethical obligation to make every attempt to retrieve downed birds. Who can argue that?

Sooooo, the long and short of it. Yes you can shoot them on the water. Some people will tell you that you shouldn't, but if you listen to and do what everybody else tells you to, you'll never get to do what you want to do.

p.s. - I'm a softy too. I snuck up on (30 yards) about 150 geese and a bunch of swans on a local river. All I did was watch 'em for an hour. They were so darn cool. About half the swans had bands. Talk about awesome birds.

[rubber duck]

Will you shoot a deer standing still or do you make him run to

add a little sport to it?

[hanson]

Will you shoot a deer standing still or do you make him run to add a little sport to it?

The real question is if the deer could fly, would you shoot him on the ground or wait for him to take off. That would add a whole new dimension to deer hunting.

[Matt Breuer]

Will you shoot a deer standing still or do you make him run to

add a little sport to it?

I love this, and will indeed use it sometime!

Seriously, I think killing a duck on the water is harder than hitting a duck cupped and set over the dekes. The only time I've ever water-swatted is when the ducks refused to get up. I've had a number of divers just swim around, despite me approaching them, yelling, etc.. I don't think it's unethical, I just don't think it's that fun.

Who are people to say what's ethical or not? If you do water-swat a duck and manage to hit it, you're going to hit the head or neck, killing the bird. A flying bird however, you'll wing 'em, and make 'em suffer for 3-5 minutes, then go ring their neck? Yeah, sounds real "ethical"...

If you want to shoot a duck, and it's on the water, fire away!

[rubber duck]

Ok how about a swimming deer?

[PierBridge]

From the sounds of I'm sure there are many in this thread that would shoot the Deer while it's swimming.

Quote:

Who are people to say what's ethical or not?

I exercise my free speech to say it's unethical to shoot a sitting Duck on the water whats so hard to understand about that?

Yes it's legal go for it if you need a bird that bad.

It's legal to keep and eat a 10# Walleye also so go for it...I say that's UNETHICAL too.

[Matt Breuer]

I'm not going to start a fight, nor am I going to pimp my rights, I'm just saying one person's ethics are far different than anothers. Maybe this person doesn't shoot so well. Maybe they only get out 1-2 times per year and they're elderly grandmother LOVES duck.

A ten lb. walleye is far less of a breeder than something in the 7 lb. class. If someone kept a 10 lb.'er for the wall, I wouldn't care.

I don't think it's ethical for people to keep animals in a cage, then slaughter them for meat. But I sure love the taste of beef!

[hanson1287]

Ethical in this country??? Went out the door about 10 years ago

[Barbelboy]

Piebridge,

I'm not going to disagree with you. We all get to choose what we believe is ethical. The one thing i'm going to say about this site is that if you put your beliefs out there they will be questioned. We've all seen it many times. No matter what somebody believes there is always somebody ready to judge them for their beliefs or how they choose to do something. So as long as Pb wants to shoot 'em out of the air and release 10# eyes I thing he should be able to. Just don't act condescending when I decide to enjoy the outdoors in a legal but disimilar manner.

All seriousness aside. I'd bait that flying deer or shoot him off of his roost. Swimming deer. I've found that shooting a 16' crestliner at 35 mph to be a very effective method. Recovery is difficult, but nothing stops a buck faster than a big bow wave.

[Matt Breuer]

Haha, true, those swimming deer don't know what hit 'em when you front-side 'em with a nice wake!

I don't disagree with PB, I release big 'eyes, and I don't like to shoot ducks on the water. I'm just saying that ethics are something a person should have on their own, and what's ethical to one may not be to another.

To siplify my response, yes, it's legal. Ethical? That's for the individual to decide!

[Ray Esboldt]

I passed on a swimming deer a couple weeks ago. Actually we did have a deer swim across the slough we were hunting.

But, I did waterswat a mallard that swam in that day. I like to eat them. Next day, HugoBox and I could have water swatted another early lander, and we didn't. Ethical, unethical, this, that, otherwise - if you're going to shoot them and eat them you have done nothing wrong. In fact, because you bought a license and probably have contributed financially to the world of waterfowling in some other way (D.U., Delta, some type of habitat improvement gourp, etc), you're pretty darn ethical in my book.

BTW - I think Robo Ducks ought to be outlawed.